THOUGHTS OF A CHESS ADDICT

  Announcing the opening of the Tanglin CC Chess Club ! Thanks to the assistance of Mr Wee Siu Kee, the CM for Tanglin CC who has been most supportive of chess activities, we are able to secure the use of the Manga Room at Level 3 - 4 for the regular Tanglin CC practices. The Club shall open every Friday (so long as its not a public holiday) from 7pm to 9.30pm. Generally the CC is not crowded Friday nights unless there is a performance at the Hall. The room (picture above) can seat about 20 players and 4 accompanying persons.  At the moment there is no membership required, though in time to come this may change. We shall have the last 2 sessions for 2022 on 23 and 30th December. Sets and clocks are provided. 

Once again, the NAG came and went with its fair share of upsets and surprises. The Senja-Cashew CC Hall was a big venue that can house more than the reported 487 participants - if only the timing and notice was given earlier to the participants who would have required time to plan their schedules.  U14 My currently oldest student Ho Ray Ee finished 7rh out of   62 participants, while Wen Chen who joined me in June this year finished 19th.  Ray Ee has prepared well for this event chalking only losses to Satvik and Jaime. Wen Chen was unfortunate to lose to Jaime blundering a Rook when winning. He then went on to lose the 2nd game in the last day to Yu Bei Hao hence dropping to 19th. My assessment is that both players lack game experience in handling tense situations - which can be improved by playing purposeful blitz regularly. Blitz is often seen as a bad way of training but when used purposefully. there are good outcomes from it.  U12 Damien Tay and Ryan Heng h...

 A start of another year , the last of the fifth decade. Looking ahead, there are some goals I'd like to achieve over the next 365 days, with the return to normal life after a 2-year pandemic blankout.  Chesswise, I am contemplating making the switch from individual lessons to outreaching lots more given the depleting resource of time. Introducing students to more self-study methods rather than just showing them things. In this respect I agree with world-class chess coach when he remarked that the realm of chess coaching is misguided due to the approach taken by top player-turned-coaches. Most of the authors today make coaching an information transfer rather than address the shortcomings of each individual student. In short, they do not solve the problem of student's inability to improve. I too am guilty of dishing out canned lessons at times to fulfil a period of instruction.  There comes a dilemma whether to drop a student owing to lack of interest on his part resulting...

 From my post 2 years earlier, during the start of the COVID pandemic.. A new decade, as I enter the tail-end of my 50's and approaching the 60s. Time now somehow seems finite and there is a urgency to get things done. Too much of it has been wasted in politicking and unnecessary struggles serving no purpose. Neither does running the chess calendar annually and completing each event without hiccups help in the wake of looming issues causing by aging of the chess organising core.  I hope to set a few targets this year, both for myself and the chess scene. As I say goodbye to my P6s, a new crop of players now enter into my teaching fold. It is also time to consider the feasibility of the podcast model vs the 1-to-1 training mode. With the podcast I am able to reach a wider audience (hence not tied tn a small group weekly) but the apprehension remains in whether the local parents are keen to enrol in such self-disciplined learning. Perhaps I should only consider this for 13 year ...

  Remember this scene? Yes, its the Wednesday Social Chess Meetup at Asia Square Tower One that's run by Bradley Loh. Many have passed by and have a go at the chess tables playing for fun, some seriously executing moves at the command of the Brain (in the Hand and Brain variant of doubles). It was a great night out after hours for chess fans to socialise and interact.  Guess what? After 2 long years, we've finally been given the green light to resume the meetup on April 6  from 630pm! For the many who have missed this (you know who you are), do mark your schedules for the return of the Meetup - the crew will be there to set the 10 boards and sets, so we'll be in groups of 5 tables (10 players) with a distance between the 2 groups. Please try to stay within your own groups ok? If you have sanitizers do bring them - we do encourage everyone to practice sanitizing your hands before you leave the Meetup as it will be impractical to clean the pieces. If you are bringing your o...

  With the Government's long-awaited easing of COVID restrictions from March 29, the return of over the board chess is imminent. Many have been eagerly practicing online for the last 2 years, honing their skills in preparation to play FIDE-rated events which can materialise with more people in venues that can take up to 75% of their capacity. As the country moves into endemic mode, we should see the normalising of over the board chess activity as the goal to rejuvenate the once-vibrant  chess scene, from the Asia Square meetups to the QCD Adults League and other similar initiatives. Though I do not envisiage the return of the full scale National Schools' event such as the one above, 75% of the above Sports Hall is achievable with masks on for participants. Certainly the yearning for the National Schools' Teams and National Age Group to be played in such venues is there - but of course we may have to seek the cooperation of parents who would have to play their part in droppi...

  The recently concluded 73 rd National Schools Individual Championships started from 13 March drew 1364 participants, which included the Polytechnics and International Schools. The games were played on the LiChess server as a 7-round Swiss tournament for each category. Below is a report of the performance of my students in the competition. It is a mixed bag of joys and sorrows, where there were nail-biting moments and ecstatic glows when the positional win was executed with good technique, albeit in an online setting.   U16 Leonard Loh 31 st   4.5 pts out of 145 players U14 Ho Ray Ee 45 th 4 pts, Theodore Tan 142nd 1 pt     out of 146 players U12 Jireh Ting 33 rd 5 pts, Damien Tay 63 rd 4.5 pts , Ryan Heng 99 th 4 pts, Armaan Narwani 2 pts   out of 283 players U10 Yu Kaiyi 2 nd   6.5 pts, Kyan Heng 10 th 6 pts, Lucas Lim 49 th 5 pts out of 276 players U08 Timothy Lam 86 th 3 pts out of   133 players   OBSE...

 Rather than focus on the trials and tribulations of my time in the Singapore Chess Federation ( a thankless job for many who have been in my shoes), I shall use this space to elaborate on the good that has been done for the chess community. Apart from the chess events organised which saw huge groups of players, this will likely be a thing of the past going forward. Many did not know the immense effort it takes to organise an event like this - a small dedicated team is essential to pull this off. HONOURING THE STAKEHOLDERS We had the Awards Night in 2016-17  to honour not only the players who performed well in the year back in 2016-17, but more importantly the many stakeholders and organisers who helmed the chess clubs and institutions which promoted chess activity. Notable recepients were Kenny Chern ( Toa Payoh West and Cairnhill CC), Seah Hui Yan (Nanyang Chess Club), Bradley Loh ( Asia Square Meetup), Ong YuJing (Siglap South CC) ,Queenstown CC (Lim CHye Lye). We commend t...